USDA taking aim at New Mexico's wild pigs

Published 7:42 pm, Monday, March 18, 2013

There are more than 5 million wild pigs in the U.S., spurring a new effort to control their numbers.

There are more than 5 million wild pigs in the U.S., spurring a new effort to control their numbers.

Photo: Richard Nowitz / U.S. Department Of Agriculture

USDA taking aim at New Mexico's wild pigs

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Using the cover of darkness, feral pigs have learned to outsmart even the most seasoned hunters as they set out on their nightly terrors — rooting up crops and suburban gardens, harassing native wildlife and turning watering holes into pigsties.

The invasive porkers have made themselves at home across more than three-quarters of the U.S. and are responsible for an estimated $1.5 billion in damages each year. Most worrisome is their ability to learn from each encounter with a frustrated human.

Ask anyone who has had a run-in with feral pigs. The conversation always circles back to intelligence.

“They're much brighter than I am,” said Ray Powell, a veterinarian and New Mexico's land commissioner. “If they had the dexterity, they'd be driving vehicles around. I mean these guys are really smart.”

Feral pigs already have taken over Texas and are expanding their numbers in other states, but federal and state land managers think they have a chance to tip the balance in New Mexico. They're willing to bet $1 million in federal funds on a yearlong pilot project aimed at eradicating the pigs and using what they learn to keep them from gaining a foothold elsewhere.

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It marks the first time the U.S. Department of Agriculture has teamed up with a state to develop a comprehensive plan for getting rid of the pigs.

A small army of state and federal employees has been trained to stalk, trap and kill New Mexico's feral pigs. Various techniques have been used by wildlife managers and landowners for decades in the fight against feral swine, but the New Mexico team is focusing on determining what combination works best in which circumstances and how effectively helicopters can be used to track the pigs across vast landscapes.

Timing is a big part of the project, UDSA Undersecretary Edward Avalos said. Hitting the pigs quickly will prevent them from becoming more educated, he said.

Pigs have been known to scope out traps for days before sending in the group's lowest-ranking members to test for danger. And if a trap isn't built just right, the pigs will find a way out, either by climbing over each other or squeezing under the fencing.

The plan calls for building special traps in strategic locations along with stalking the pigs at night.

The team also will be looking to the “Judas pig” for help. After trapping a family of pigs, all but one — usually an adult female — are shot and killed. The Judas pig then is fitted with a radio collar or microchip so it can be tracked as it looks for another group of pigs to hang out with.

This is important because feral pigs are quite elusive. Rarely seen during the day, they have learned to avoid being taken down by rifles or suckered into traps.

Their intelligence, in combination with their ability to mate year-round, is what has enabled wild pigs to evade capture and take over prairies, mountain valleys and rugged deserts from Canada to Mexico.

The wild pig population in the U.S. has ballooned to more than 5 million. In one year alone, federal managers trapped and killed more than 32,000 pigs from 28 states and collected thousands of samples to check for the nearly three dozen diseases feral pigs are capable of carrying and passing on to humans, livestock and other wildlife. After generations in the wild, the pigs have evolved into “survivors,” willing to eat just about anything and capable of traversing some of the most rugged territory.

Ranchers and farmers have complained for years about the damage feral pigs can cause, but federal and state officials said the loss of crops, the spread of noxious weeds as the pigs carry seeds to new spots, and the stress they put on endangered species and other wildlife has become worse because of the persistent drought that has hammered two-thirds of the country.

In Texas, where there are an estimated 2.6 million pigs, the animals have moved from destroying pastures and crops to tearing up suburban gardens.

Texans spend about $7 million a year trying to control pigs and repair some of the damage, said Billy Higginbotham, a professor and wildlife specialist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center.

“What we're simply trying to do here is not even use the “e” word — eradication — but to think in terms of managing the damage,” he explained.